Skate wheels ideally combine the attributes of resilience, wear resistance, and grip for a smooth ride on various paved surfaces without substantial energy loss and wheel wear. However, conventional in-line skate wheels, such as recreational, racing, and hockey wheels either have good vibration absorption but low wear resistance (soft wheel) or good wear resistance but low vibration absorption (hard wheel).
A skater's speed is also affected by the interaction between the wheel hardness and the roughness of the skating surface. A hard wheel will skate fast on a very smooth surface. However, as the surface becomes rougher, a soft wheel will more smoothly ride over small surface bumps and results in less skater energy loss. A hard wheel requires the skate to move vertically over bumps causing vibrations, extra movement of the wheel, and thus, extra energy expended.
Others have attempted to provide a wheel with improved dampening, resilience, and/or grip. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,432 (Klamer) discloses a dual material wheel. The surface of the wheel exposes the two materials including the softer material. However, such a wheel may be slow, having increased rolling friction. Furthermore, the soft material would not wear well and will create vibration due to the hardness on the skating surface.